If there weren't already enough choices for how best to enjoy music on the go, two major names in data storage electronics, Imation and TEAC, are offering new spins on the mini rewritable compact disc.
Imation has entered the portable digital audio field with RipGO, a pocket-size 227g CD-R burner and audio player. Imation designed the RipGO to use only mini CD-R discs, which are about 7.6cm in diameter, rather than standard discs, which measure almost 12.7cm across. That also reduces capacity, since the disc stores no more than 202Mb, less than a third the amount of a full-size CD-R. But the mini CD-R can store three hours of near-CD-quality music using MP3 compression and up to six hours using Windows Media Audio.
PHOTO: NY TIMES
The RipGO, which costs US$299, requires a USB port to connect to PCs. Moving digital music to the RipGO is no different from burning files to a CD-R.
TEAC's Mini CD/MP3 Player is simply a player. About half the weight of the RipGO, it also uses mini CD-R discs, which are far less costly than chip-based storage media. The TEAC player, which cannot play WMA files, costs about US$129.
The two devices, which were shown last week in New York at TechXNY (previously PC Expo), offer similar playback capabilities, including some skip protection and music-management software.
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